Destiny's Way
by Lioness's Heart
Summary: Based on Outcast - She's an outcast in her country. She can never go back. She doesn't know where she's going, or what's going to happen, but she'd going to make her own destiny now. Watch as our hero continues on her way to redemption. DISCONTINUED
1. Into The Fire

**Disclaimer: Not. Mine.  
A/N: Okay, I'm proud of myself. I really enjoyed writing this, though I feel a bit bd saying that, considering what I put the character through...anyways, enjoy!**

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The sand whipped against her face as she walked. She had walked so far already, and she felt as if she still had a long way to go. She'd been out there for months, after she'd been exiled from her country.

Kel didn't know how much farther she could go, she was tired, and her heart seemed to ache from what the other knights had said, and what had transpired since her supposed treachery.

Only a few people had sided with her, but King Jonathan had forced them to give it up, or they would be exiled with her. Neal, Merric, Owen, Raoul, and Alanna had chosen to believe her when she had told them that she was innocent, that she would never betray Tortall. A furious King Jonathan had had a 'discussion' with Raoul and Alanna in his office during the trial when they'd spoken out.

The resulting shouting match could be heard throughout the castle. Finally, Jonathan had threatened them, and not just idly threatened them, with exile as well. A distraught Alanna had left the office sullenly, and Raoul had stalked out, and sat down as far away from the king as possible.

She remembered that day so well, when she barely remembered most of the days since then. After the trial, her family, out of shame, had been forced to disinherit her, and cast her out. She wasn't allowed to call herself Keladry of Mindelan. She was just Kel, a no-one, who didn't belong anywhere.

Now that she thought about it, she didn't really want to go back. Nobody cared about her there. Not anymore. Except for her friends, they'd accompanied her to the border, though the knights had been forbidden to speak to her once they were past her old post, New Hope, when Jonathan had overheard that they had been talking to her.

He hadn't thought to stop Dom from talking to her, but it made it hurt worse. Just the look in Dom's eyes sent shivers up her spine.

She missed Tobe, too. What was going to happen to him without her? She could only hope that he would stay at New Hope, and not cast a thought toward her.

It was rather odd, she thought, that all she managed to be able to think about was her old friends. She wasn't even thinking that much about her own survival, just about what was happening to them. She didn't even realize how much she herself had changed since she'd left Tortall, both physically and in her own thoughts.

A few days earlier, she had caught her reflection in water she'd pulled from an old abandoned well. Her hair, which had been cut neatly at her earlobes, was nearly at her shoulders, and instead of the mousy brown it had been when she'd left, it was streaked with sun-bleached blond. She had lost a lot of weight, so she looked gaunt, when she had been well-fed. She was just…different, there wasn't any other way to describe it.

She did wonder, however, if she would ever see them again. She was never going back to Tortall – she couldn't, not after she'd been exiled, but she could go everywhere else. Maybe she'd see them in her travels.

Now, all she had to do was decide where to go when she got out of the desert. Outside of the countries bordering Tortall, the knights weren't taught a lot about the other countries on the continent, probably because they rarely had to deal with those countries. She didn't even know most of the names of most of those countries, much less anything about them. She hadn't even known that there was a desert on the other side of Scanra.

She sighed and kept walking. The sand whipped her cheeks, chapping them more than they already were. She knew that eventually she would have to stop, but where, she didn't know.

It was days later when Kel found the next town. By then, her tongue was thick from lack of water. The desert was a harsh place, especially this one. It was harsher than the one in the south of Tortall, where the Bahzir lived.

She didn't know how much more of this she would be able to take, she had been a knight, yes, but that was nothing compared to this. She walked for endless miles with very little hope for the end of the desert, not after so long. At that, she would never know what would happen once she was free from the desert.

She walked into the town, meeting no one's eyes, as they watched her, a lone woman who walked through the desert, with no company, and few possessions. She knew they probably thought she was strange, but that didn't really bother her.

What she was, was a survivor, she was going to prove the Tortallans wrong, show them that she wasn't what they thought she was. She wasn't a traitor. At that point, she mentally berated herself. If she was going to prove them wrong, she had to stop dwelling on what had happened.

One last thought appeared in her mind before she shut those thoughts out all together. What would Neal, Dom, and Raoul think if they say her now, what would Lady Alanna think?

She cut those thoughts off, trying to rip them from her mind. She wasn't going to see them again, so what was the point? She had to move on, not dwell.

She stopped at the well, and drew up some water, pouring it as best she could into her waterskin before drinking some. She looked up from that to see a young boy at her elbow.

"Can I help you, miss?" He asked sincerely in heavily accented common. Kel could have smiled then, but she didn't.

"Thank you, no. I have to be on my way." She brushed some of the dust off of her clothes, and walked away from the well.

The boy followed her. "You sure? You look tired," he persisted, barely understandable when he said 'tired'.

Kel sighed, turning, "I am tired, but I have to move on. Thank you," she muttered, meeting the boy's green gaze.

She trudged away from him, leaving him with nothing but the sadness that he'd met one of the famed Tortallan lady knights that he'd heard so much about, and he couldn't help her.

Kel would never know that her shame would never reach this village, and that she wasn't a fallen warrior here, she was still a hero. She wasn't a hero in her own heart, not anymore, but she was still a hero to the people who'd heard of the Protector of the Small. She was the woman who had taken a stand for the children in her care, and saved other countries from the same fate as Tortall.

But she'd never know that she hadn't lost that person. To herself, she was just Kel, the nearly heartbroken outcast who had to find her way again.

She had no idea what destiny had in store for her.

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A/N: Review!! Please? 


	2. Lost In The Ice

**Disclaimer: Anything recognizable belongs to the amazing and mighty author, Tamora Pierce, not me, as much as I'd like it to.  
A/N: Wow, has it really been over two months since I updated this? Well, I apologize for that – this chapter just did not want to be written, though I'm hoping the next chapter is going to be nicer to me…anyways, enjoy!**

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Mountains - after the desert there were mountains. Tall mountains with snow at the tops, as far as the eye could see. This did not bode well. She was going to have to climb the mountains.

Kel sighed as she gazed at her daunting task – the next step in her journey to a new life. She pulled her pack off, her fingers running over the scarred leather. She slowly removed what she had in the bag.

There was enough food for a few more weeks if she rationed it properly. Water wouldn't really be a problem anymore, but warmth would be. Her single blanket was wearing thin from months of everyday use.

Still, she had to move on. There was no going back, only forward. In all of the places she'd been since her shunning, there wasn't a place that she wanted to stay for the rest of her life. She wondered if she would ever find her place.

Silently she repacked her pack, placing each item in with care; they were all she had now. She hesitated, holding a small wooden box about the size of a jewelry box.

The wood felt so smooth under her weather roughened hands. She carefully opened it, her eyes resting on the contents. Letters, another small box – from Dom, and a few other items filled it. She shuffled through the letters, fully aware that she needed to press on.

Finally she stopped, pulling out a letter from her friends, the one that they'd had Dom give her. The first part was written by her knightmaster, Lord Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak.

_Kel,_

_Though his Royal Pain, King Jonathan, has forbidden us to speak to you, we all want you to know that we care. We will miss you profusely, when you're gone. We all know you're innocent. We want you to know that we believe you, and that we still care. If you need help of any kind, do not hesitate to ask. We'll do whatever we can for you._

The next paragraph was in Neal's handwriting. She smiled slightly when she thought of him, she couldn't help it. He always had been her best friend.

_We're going to miss you, Kel, more than you know. It won't be the same without you at New Hope. It's going to be harder to go on, for everyone. Everyone's going to miss you. Don't worry about Tobe. I'll take good care of him until his contract runs out. Don't forget us, Kel._

Next was unfamiliar, elegant handwriting. Kel could only assume that it was Alanna's, since the King's Champion was the only person who'd written the letter whose handwriting Kel wasn't familiar with.

_I am so proud of you, Kel. Your determination has inspired many young girls; you've shown them that they can make their dreams come true. You've changed the rules, and made them play our game. Whatever Jonathan says, I know you're innocent. I promise you that he will regret banishing you, Raoul and I will make him absolutely miserable. Take care._

Merric had written only short note, probably hard pressed for time, judging by the hasty scrawl of his writing.

_I'm glad I could serve under you, Kel. New Hope will be greatly saddened with the loss of our wonderful commander. We'll miss you._

Owen's letter was longer, but much messier than Merric's.

_Thank you, Kel. You've done so much for me, and for everyone else. I wouldn't be a knight without your help. I probably would have given up a long time ago if it hadn't been for you. It was jolly of you to help me like that. I owe you._

_Raoul, Neal, Alanna, Merric, and Owen_

Calmly, she refolded the letter, placing it back in the box. Her fingers paused over the small box that rested in the corner. She almost pulled it out, but decided not to. She had to move on.

She'd already wasted too much time on the past. She needed to stop thinking about them, it was far past time for her to let go of that. It was far past time that she move on, and let her past die. The only problem was that it was so hard…

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_Wonderful, _she thought, _absolutely wonderful. _Kel glared up at the sky as she made her trek toward the top of the mountain. Droplets hit her face as she walked. She was really beginning to hate weather.

She was thankful for the fact that her pack was waterproof. She tried to ignore the rain as she climbed higher. After a while, she forgot about her wet clothing, and hair – until she found snow, that is.

She stood at the brink of the first snow bank, looking on at the white powder that she knew could bring her end. It was hard enough to keep warm, with her single blanket and worn clothes, but snow would make it even harder.

This was not a good scenario, but there was no other way – there was no going around the mountains. She had to go over them; there was absolutely no other way.

She sighed, and moved over to the nearest boulder. Sitting down, she rested her left ankle on her right knee, checking her boots. They were doing better than the rest of her clothing was, though the soles were starting to thin out.

Kel sighed and got back to her feet. After a moment of contemplation, staring at the snow, she started walking again. She cleared her mind as she went on, trying not to think about the possibility that she might freeze to death.

Not long after that, it started snowing. She didn't cast the falling flakes a passing thought while she walked, until it was snowing so hard that she could barely see. She shivered as she trudged through the white powder. Each step took her a great effort. Her cold body didn't want to go on.

She was so cold, so tired. Kel longed for the warmth of Corus in the winter time, at least there, she wouldn't be freezing. If it hadn't been for her drive to prove the people who thought her a traitor wrong, she would have given up then and there.

It was then that she saw the opening of a cave not too far away. Hope surged through her. Maybe she could shelter there, and move on in the morning. If she could, there was a chance for her.

She was in luck. The cave was unoccupied, and warm. From the mouth of the cave, she could smell sulfur in the air. Kel realized how lucky she was when she stepped out of the snow.

Very few travelers in her position would happen upon a cave like this while in the middle of a blizzard. Much less a warm cave. With a sigh of relief, she walked deeper into the cave.

As she did, the sound of splashing caught her attention. She looked around, searching for the source of the sound. When she turned a corner near the back of the cave, she found what she was looking for.

There was a large pool of water lay before her, steam rising from the lapping surface. A small waterfall, which was also steaming, streamed into the pool, creating the noise she had heard.

Kel smiled slightly, this was more than she'd hoped for. She would be able to have a bath, and be warm. She could rest in peace, if only for one night.

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**A/N: What do you think so far? Like it? Review and let me know what you think!**

**Posted 1/31/08**


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